And not yet. Not sure where he’s at and I still have to evaluate him.
Ah yes
So much for neutral, huh?
Honestly? Don’t think I ever really was.
Agree. That ship sailed the moment you realized beautiful hooker boy was your new intern.
He had a point.
I left my phone to charge on the windowsill, then took both coffees to the bedroom. Finn blinked at me from under the covers, looking like he’d maybe dozed off again for another couple of minutes, and it tugged at something wistful in my chest—how easily I could see a string of mornings just like this. Me coming home from a night shift, maybe, waking him up with coffee in bed, or both of us moving around the kitchen while getting ready for the day, night still pressing against the windows. Leaving together for a pre-shift run, parting with a kissafter showers and changing into scrubs so he could head off to wherever his next rotation took him.
Except… Yeah. No. We couldn’t exactly post date-night photos or pause too long in each other’s orbit. He was still a resident. I was still his evaluator, for God’s sake—even if his stint with pediatric surgery ended in just a few days, people would remember.
But in here, I could pretend.
“That for me?” Finn asked. His lips crooked, everything about him sleep-soft, anchoring me in the present.
“Who else?” I shuffled onto the bed, careful not to spill anything, and leaned against the headboard. Finn sat up to take his mug from me, then tipped sideways to lean his head on my shoulder, his skin warm and each breath slow, even.
The noise in my head went quiet. This morning—it was ours. I wasn’t due for rounds until much later, while Finn was expected at noon because life wasn’t fair and neither were hospital hierarchies. But we still had time. I draped an arm around his shoulder and took a sip of coffee.
For now, the rest of the world could go to hell.
My badge beeped like a tired bird. Same, same.
First stop coffee, then on to the workroom to check the morning team’s notes. Only I never actually made it—Tay caught me just as I rounded the corner.
“Jesse, hey.” The tilt of his smile seemed wrong. “Got a second?”
I stopped, instantly alert. “Sure, yeah. Everything all right?”
He glanced left, then right, then shook his head. “Not here,” he said and started walking.
Which wasn’t an answer, or maybe it was. Whatever afterglow might have lingered in my bones slipped away as Ifollowed him into an on-call room, empty but for a blanket folded on the cot. Gray light seeped through a tiny window, bathing the cramped space in just enough brightness that we didn’t need to flick on a light.
I closed the door without being asked and leaned against it, arms folded. “Okay, you’re scaring me a little here.”
“Yeah, just…” He cleared his throat. “Don’t panic, okay? It’s just a heads-up. I could be wrong.”
Don’t panic? There was exactly one thing I’d done, one misstep, that could warrant this kind of tone. My pulse skipped a beat even as I strove for a calm expression. “That’s really not as reassuring as you seem to think it is.”
“Right, yeah. Sorry.” He huffed a small laugh and grew serious once more. “Novak asked me some questions this morning.”
Fuck. I inhaled. “About?”
“You and Finn.” Tay met my gaze, clear and direct. “Hayes—obviously.”
I dug my fingers into my arms. It didn’t really help against the white rush of noise in my ears, mouth gone dry. “What kind of questions?”
“Nothing concrete, but…leading. Doesn’t take a genius to see where it’s headed.” Tay’s voice softened. “I told her I didn’t know anything. Which is true.”
The scant daylight danced behind my lids each time I blinked, mildly nauseating. Finn was… Shit. He’d arrived before me.
“But,” Tay said right into that thought, “just between us, I’ve seen enough to… You know. To suspect she’s not just jumping at shadows. And I figured you deserved to know she’s looking.”
“Thank you.” I shook my head, mostly to clear it. “I… That’s really very decent of you.”
